Holding on to the Dream

We have hit several bumps in the road on the way to our homestead. It’s been quite frustrating to say the least and I’ve had more than a few moments of doubt that this will ever happen.

Lili and Naomi, on the other hand, are convinced we are moving to our homestead. Lili even asked me a couple of days ago if she can have her own chicken. Of course my answer was “yes.” Naomi doesn’t talk about the homestead nearly as much, but she soaks in all the information. I’m quite sure Lili will be the one helping with the animals. She talks about collecting eggs and milking the goats. Naomi showed me just how much she enjoys gardening this past summer, so I know I’ll have help in the garden.

Even though our homestead isn’t reality right now, I’m holding on to the dream.

The dream that I’ll have a few of these.

A flock of these

And maybe one of these to help watch after the goats and the chickens.

It’s a good dream. A really good dream that I have to believe will one day become reality. It’s just meant to be.

Debbie, we are working toward a farm too. We are currently on 1 acre, and have 6 goats at the moment. Alpine crosses, with 2 in milk. Next spring we should have 3 in milk. We also have chickens, and had a turkey, which is now in freezer. It was too big to freeze whole, so it is in parts, thus it will not be our thanksgiving dinner.
We had a huge pig a few years ago, donated by someone else. I learned from this pig that our goat fences were not sufficient for a grown pig. (She went to the freezer, after teaching our buck how to be a fence breaker. Buck eventually had to go to the freezer too, as we could not keep him contained. That is one of the parts of farming I hate, that I have to make that decision. But it is a farm/homestead reality.). We had rabbits too for many years, meat rabbits. I can do the chicken and rabbit butchering, but do NOT enjoy it. Husband did not grow up on a farm and is too squeamish to do more than help with the occasional turkey, and then only when I tell him that I will skin it, rather than pluck it, if I have to do it myself. He values the skin on his bird. I don’t care one way or the other, but skinning is faster.
When we have 3 goats in milk, I make cheese 2 or 3 times a week. I Have made 20 plus different types, but mostly make motzerrela, cheddar, Gouda, and Edam.
We haven’t bought cheese in over a year, excepting a tiny piece of Muenster, that I bought for culture.
We have two apple trees, which grow small apples, raspberry and current bushes, which the moose prune back so regularly that they don’ t produce very well. We have a small garden, that grows mostly chickweed, but does potatoes well.
We are looking for a farm in the Ozarks, not being flat landers. We both grew up in hilly, or mountainous areas, and live in Alaska now, so flat land looks rather odd (unsafe) to us.
I love my mountains here, where we hike weekly all summer, and am not looking forward to leaving them. They are “my mountains”, I know them well. But we need a better climate.
Land is too expensive here, and we want more than our acre.
A move would require a Job change, so we are stuck here until we solve that one.
Homeschooling is also easier here. We use a state funded program, and have worked with this program since 1996, so I will have to make that change too.
We currently have 3 kids in OT, one in speech and one about to start counciling, so I want those to be done, so we don’t have to disrupt that. Those also mean we don’t want to be without medical insurance.
We are calling the farm our 5 year plan, as husband will be then old enough to take early retirement, which includes medical, if we can afford the premiums, and then he would look for a second career, in something he enjoys, as we couldn’t live long or well without that. We still will. Have 6 minor children, 2, possibly 3 of which may not ever be independent.
We are second familyers like you guys….
So, “Gluck ouf”, Good luck getting out. German salt miner saying, as they stayed down in the mine for weeks on end, before going home for a while, and used this greeting.
I have a fair idea of what it will take to get your family to a homestead.
April in Ak